Wednesday, February 22

Photo Dump

I'm hoping the old saying, "a picture's worth a thousand words" is true tonight. I'm so tired. I went straight from work to pick up my kids and then to a really cool missionary thing at my church. It wasn't over until 8:30. Needless to say, it's been a long day. But, I have tons of pictures from the last few weeks...

My kids collect their Valentine's cards and treats in these heart pockets. Some years I let them decorate the front, but we were pressed for time this year. (I kinda like the "clean-ness" of no decoration!). These are really quick and easy to make.

This is the hanging hall art for February. The kids glued tissue paper squares to a heart traced onto red cardstock. It works best to paint a little glue, place tissue paper in glue, then paint over the top with more glue. Watered down glue works well. Wait until they're dry then cut out.

We celebrate Valentine's Day with our Dads-- Doughnuts with Dad. This takes the place of a party. I've done it every year I've taught and really like it. The kids make these dads to hang in the hall.

We also make dad a little book, a card, and a button. Nothing too fancy-- Dads don't seem to be too picky! We also play Are You Smarter than a First Grader (kids vs dads). The kids really like it. My friend and I created the game on a flipchart for the Promethean Board. If you are interested in a copy let me know.

My room set up for the dads (I dust off the doughnut sugar and reuse these tablecloths!)

I was feeling festive this year-- even the tree got a little heart love.

The kids were so excited to dump all of their goodies from the heart pockets and read their cards.

We've been learning about place value the last couple of weeks. I love this marshmallow place value activity. The kids loved it too! We practiced first with just the marshmallows, then added the recording sheet later. You can find the activity {here} on Abby's blog.

We also did a little contraction surgery last week. My class loved that too! They were so cute in their little surgical masks and gloves (I got a dentist parent to donate the masks). My class was struggling with contractions this year. I really think this helped them to understand these words a little better.

Of course I copied Cara's surgeon. I'm willing to admit that I have absolutely no drawing abilities! I love tracing with the Promethean Board :)

One of my math tubs this week-- from Cara's Place Value Unit (this is a must buy- probably my most favorite unit of hers)

Another math tub from Cara. I was afraid the base 10 blocks would get all mixed up if I put different amounts in 10 baggies. So I used different colored pipe cleaners and pom poms for tens and ones.

I made this little 10's mat to help them sort their beans into groups of 10. They LOVE scoop and sort! Cara's again!

I can't remember where I found this idea last year. Please let me know if it's yours. I created this little sheet. It's just good practice for counting tens and ones. Once they made their own initials, they could use the base-10 blocks to create other letters.

Open House is tomorrow night. So, we've been working hard to make sure the room is "Parent Perfect." Here are the directed-drawings of George and Abe. I love this activity from Deanna Jump. I made them draw with marker-- they listen much better that way!

Our anchor chart inspired by Abby. This lesson was a hit. They all wrote a question on a sticky note (making sure to use a question word and a question mark) then I answered each one.

I loved this inferring idea of Cara's but didn't have a big bulletin board. So, I changed it a little to fit my space. I took a picture of each page in the book and printed them out. Each child worked with a partner to make their inference. They all created their own David, but some were sent home early for lack of space.

After studying -ch we had a crunchy munchy -ch "party", inspired by First Grader at Last. It wasn't really a party, although I called it one! The kids each brought in their own -ch food for snack time.

I love how these Splats turned out. My kids had some great text-to-self connections.

My kids really got into homophones. I read "Dear Deer" to introduce the concept. They worked in pairs to create their homophone pears.

Here are some of our finished Venns. I think they turned out really cute.

This one cracks me up! Not quite sure about the red glasses :)

I've never had a child make their Venn into a ninja-- there's a first time for everything!

Hey girl! It was great to meet you yesterday! It was alot of fun, we'll have to do it again. I do the marshmallow, fruit loop, and toothpick place value thing too! This activity always makes place value finally "click" with my past students.

There are so many of you that have "hooked" me into the blogging world & have inspired me to want to start my own! If you have any great advice for a newbie- I am willing to learn! I just started my own blog and waiting for my blog makeover which should be ready in a few days! I would love to learn how to create printables etc, but my "nitch" is technology. If you are interested in integrating technology into the classroom, maybe you could stop by:

Hi there, I love all of your cute ideas and bulletin boards. I especially love the table cloths on your tables when others visit. We do grandparent's day and the grandparents visit the classrooms to do activities with the kids. I never would have thought about table cloths....lol. It seems like such a simple idea. Anyway, I am your newest follower. I also read you have a Promethean board. I have one too and have tons of flipcharts on my website. Visit my blog and website when you get a chance. I also have Inspire tutorials on my blog. Love your stuff. Kelly

About Me

I graduated from Samford University in 2004. I have taught first grade for the past 7 years and love it. I teach at an awesome school in Alabama (which also happens to be where I went to school many years ago). I love my students and my amazing first grade team. I am married to my high school sweetheart. We have two children-- ages 5 and 2.
I named my blog "Just Add Clipart" because clipart makes even the most boring things more fun to teach and learn.